ENGLAND and Croatia played out a goalless Nations League draw behind closed doors with Harry Kane and Eric Dier both striking the woodwork. See how the action unfolded with Express Sport.

The virtually-empty Stadion HNK Rijeka hosted England's first-ever match behind closed doors as Croatia completed a ground ban imposed by UEFA for having a swastika on the pitch during a Euro 2016 qualifier against Italy.

There were regular, distant cries from a small group of hardy England fans that had found a vantage point high above one of the stands, but those efforts were rewarded with a poor first half in which Dier hit the post late on.

England improved after the break as Kane hit the woodwork before Rashford missed two fine chances, while Ante Rebic curled just wide for a Croatia side that had lost their Nations League opener 6-0 in Spain.

Southgate's men face their own Spanish test on Monday without the suspended Jordan Henderson and John Stones, but there are certainly promising moments to build on.

FT: Not the most memorable of nights for England, but Gareth Southgate’s side take a point away from Croatia.

92: Harry Kane looks for a very sneaky long throw forward to Marcus Rashford but Vida is once again alert to the danger.

90: Four minutes injury time.

89: Great introduction from Jadon Sancho, who is currently having the Croatian left-back on toast! He skips past the defender before sending a lofted cross thats somehow alludes three England players.

88: Big chance to snatch it goes begging for Croatia. Kramaric collects a low cross inside the penalty area but merely diverts it slowly to Pickford. Missing Mario Mandzukic methinks.

85: England will kick themselves if they don’t come away with three points tonight. Gareth Southgate’s side have been the better side, created the better opportunities and struck the woodwork twice. Perhaps James Maddison would have been a good idea to unpick this stubborn Croatia defence.

82: No real sign of a break in the deadlock for you hearty souls who are still with me. Trust me, I wouldn’t be.

80: Croatia use their third and final substitution with Livaja replaces Rebic - who I think would suit the Premier League. Sign him up!

77: Here comes Jadon Sancho! 18 years and 200 days old is the Borussia Dortmund star who replaces Raheem Sterling for the closing stages. They are already talking about £100m for the youngster. Crazy but not surprising rumours I suppose.

69:Cuppa tea with that slice? Chilwell stands up Rebic, who lays it across the penalty area for Kramaric to shank well wide. And yes that is Andrej Kramaric, formerly of Leicester.

Ivan Perisic off, Marko Pjaca on.

66:Belgium have taken the lead against Switzerland for those interested. Romelu Lukaku with the goal after 58 minutes.

63:The game has improved immeasurably since the re-start, and it really is there for the taking for both sides. And I’m even getting used to no supporters inside the stadium… kind of.

60: Oh Marcus!Croatia seem to have fallen to pieces as Gareth Southgate’s side shift through the gears. A simple ball straight down the middle leaves Rashford in a one-on-one situation… but again he side-foots tamely back to Luvakovic.

That terrible miss is followed by a terrible challenge by Jedvaj, who overstretched and slides into Eric Dier - catching him on the ankle. Easily a red card in my opinion.

58: Errr, Marcus Rashford has missed an absolute sitter. Kyle Walker bends a delightful cross behind the Croatia defence and Rasford, with plenty of time and space, inexplicably side-foots it back to the goalkeeper.

55: Penalty appeal! Tough decision but it looks like Ross Barkley should have been awarded a penalty when Rebic clumsily brought him down inside the penalty area. No real complaints from the England players, other than John Stones who is booked for lashing out at Rebic in the aftermath.

53: Woodwork! You don’t get much closer and again it comes from England’s most dangerous World Cup weapon - set-pieces. Harry Kane connects with a header and rattles his effort off the crossbar and over.

50: Haha, England fans on the hill outside the ground: "Your support is f***ing s***." Top marks.

48: Barkley, Walker & Kane combine nicely down the right but the Spurs striker is quickly snuffed out. Marcus Rashford then strikes from the better part of 40 yards. It didn’t go well.

CROATIA 0-0 ENGLAND

45: I suppose we had better start this thing up again. Seven Nations League games and just the two goals in all of the first halves, but I’ve got a feeling that… I can’t lie. I don’t have a feeling that things will improve. Here’s to hoping anyway!

30: Louis Theroux has just tweeted: “I’m all about mushrooms right now. Fried in butter, with garlic and lemon juice. On toast.” That, I assure you, is more entertaining than this.

28: Big pressure on Martin Tyler and Alan Smith in the commentary box tonight. People are actually listening to what they are saying! I think John Virgo and Dennis Taylor should have been drafted in for this Snooker-esque atmosphere.

26: Mateo Kovacic is next in the book for tackling Marcus Rashford from behind. Pretty poor idea and execution. Yellow card.

Ben Chilwell is standing over the resulting free-kick in the absence of Kieran Trippier… decent enough delivery but nobody attacked it.

23:Pretty dreadful Nations League advertisement tonight - and not just here in Croatia! There hasn’t been a single goal in the six other fixtures after 23 minutes. Thoroughly dull evening. New series ofWould I Lie To Youon BBC One tonight. You can watch it, I won't be offended...

19: Close!Perisic drops out of the penalty area and finds acres of space. The corner is played his way before the half-volley is blocked by a crowd of bodies.

18:Always a staggering sight to see 29-year-old centre-back Domagoj Vida stride through the entire England side before releasing his colleague on the right flank. Nobody closed the Besiktas defender down and Croatia win a corner.

15: Chance!Very nearly the opener and full debutant Ben Chilwell was instrumental. The Leicester full-back races down the left touchline before sweeping a low cross into the penalty area. Pivaric clears with Raheem Sterling lurking.

13: There are a couple of people shouting inside the stadium. One in particular tried starting a chant of "Here we go, here we go, here we go," by himself. Good effort, mate.

10:How’s the pitch? Terrible. So bad that Martin Tyler started waffling on about non-league football for three minutes. Very bumpy, dry and cut up.

8: Jordan Henderson collects the first booking of the evening and the crowd goes wild… The Liverpool midfielder tugged Ivan Rakitic back when the break looked on.

5: OK, let’s try and focus on the football… if that’s remotely possible. Both sides have settled nicely with England dominating the possession statistics. No chances to speak of though - Vida is a unit at the back for Croatia. Surprised he wasn’t snapped up by United actually.

3: If ever a match proved that International football or Premier League football or whatever football is made worthwhile by fans - this is it. I hope that the FA see this and think twice about ticket prices and travel arrangements that are fair for the fans.

CROATIA 0-0 ENGLAND

1: Quite a relief that Sky Sports commentator chose NOT to say ‘And it’s LIVE’ in his traditional over the top manner. It would have been too weird in this silent stadium. This is surreal.

Oh, and no crowd means no England Band… which can only be a good thing for ears across the nation.

19:43: I won’t lie folks - hearing the national anthems played with nobody inside the stadium is a strange sensation. A few claps from those inside and that’s about it! How on earth are these two going to treat this like a competitive match?!

View…

19:40: Sounds like a terrible view, but at least it’s free! Some spectators gathered on two balconies in block of flats overlooking the HNK Rijeka Stadium. A few gathered on a small hill, looking on, 10 tops. What a Friday night!!

Ross Barkley

19:35: Once a diamond… and could be again? There’s been plenty of negative tweets about the Chelsea midfielder starting this evening, but I feel he should have his say.

"I feel much more mature and I'm ready to show what I'm capable of - which I've shown in spells," he said. "Everybody develops at different rates.

"I understand my football better now, more than I ever have understood it before. I'm happy, confident and going in the right direction."

Francis: Ross Barkley has one decent game vs Southampton (who are rubbish) and suddenly he is England's saviour midfielder. Sorry, his problem has always been how inconsistent he is. He'll be back on the Chelsea bench in no time when the big sides arrive.

Hitch: So after all the hype, Mount, Maddison, Winks and Sancho are all on the bench. Instead, Barkley (who's been out of form and has hardly played for a couple of years) gets a start. So much for the new-blood revolution...

Rae: Henderson and Dier in the same team again?! I don't get Southgate. He pretends to be a risk taker and then picks two of the most defensive and functional players available.

Oh so quiet

19:25: Shh shh… Yes I’m referencing a 1995 song by Björk for almost no reason whatsoever. That’s how we do things in this blog on a Friday night…

It’s eerily quiet inside the stadium with just a few hundred people inside. There are around 100 members from the English and Croatian FA with an extra 50-odd members of the media.

All that can be heard is rather terrible music being played over the PA system.

19:10: I understand what Gareth Southgate is talking about here - so many people fail to understand my hilarious humour…

Southgate believes English humour can sometimes be misconstrued as a sense of entitlement as he defended the approach of his players at the World Cup.

After their 2-1 extra-time win in Moscow, midfielder Luka Modric spoke out against what he considered to be a level of disrespect shown towards Croatia.

He and manager Zlatko Dalic again aired those beliefs on the eve of the behind-closed-doors Nations League meeting on the Adriatic coast, as Modric claimed that it gave Croatia extra motivation to make sure they beat Southgate's men.

England fans ensured the "It's coming home" refrain went viral during the tournament as belief grew that World Cup success could be achieved against the odds.

But Southgate, part of the squad at Euro 96 when the hit from Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds which contained the phrase first made its mark, insists his players and staff show nothing but respect for their opponents.

"The song is humour isn't it - it is English humour," he said. "Unless you're a fan of Fawlty Towers and stuff like that maybe you don't get the slant on it. It is interesting how we are viewed by the rest of the world sometimes when you travel.

Tom: I think one of Harry Kane's legs will have to fall off before someone is finally convinced to give him a rest.

John: Fantastic for Ben Chilwell to get his first England start tonight... A natural wing-back, he’ll thrive in that 3-5-2 formation. Claude Puel having a positive impact on yet another young player’s career.

Andy: Croatia are playing a midfield of Kovacic, Rakitic and Luka Modric. England are playing a midfield of Henderson, Dier and Ross Barkley. I lost any enthusiasm I had going into the game. I get England don’t have world class midfielders, but they have a few bright ones.

19:00: Hold on a moment, why on earth have they produced a match programme when no supporters are allowed inside the stadium? Presumably they allowed a work-experience kid to test his skills on one of the more low-selling copies…

Joyless scenery…

18:55: Very evocative bloke is Croatian Football Federation president Davor Suker, who thinks tonight’s clash will be "joyless scenery" due to the game taking place behind closed doors.

"Unfortunately, the spectacle against England is set for a joyless scenery - due to UEFA sanctions, it will be played behind closed doors,” Suker wrote in his programme notes.

"From the bottom of my heart, I hope this is the last time that the vice-champions of the world play in an empty stadium, and I call upon every segment of society to join the fight against violence, racism, discrimination and pyrotechnics in the stands, in order to enjoy these kinds of events in front of full crowds."

18:50: I think the ‘ch-ch-ch-changes’ headline is getting old too, but until I think of something mildly amusing we’re stuck with it.

Anyway, Gareth Southgate has made changes to his starting XI and the formation too. Say goodbye to the back three and say hello to the familiar flat back four.

As expected, Leicester's Ben Chilwell was handed his first senior start following the squad withdrawals of fellow left-backs Luke Shaw and Danny Rose.

His inclusion was one of seven changes made by Southgate from the 1-0 friendly win over Switzerland last month.

Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling were all recalled while Ross Barkley made his first England appearance in 868 days.

Croatia boss Dalic named his side on the eve of the game as World Cup Golden Ball winner Luka Modric captains the hosts.

‘Make Your Move’

18:43: Why is England’s first team striker coach, Allan Russell, putting three of Chelsea’s Spanish players through their paces? Anyway, above is a video of Davide Zappacosta, Pedro and Alvaro Morata, who just got himself back into the Spanish international side that will play England on Monday. Hope he’s not TOO sharp!

Twitter round-up

Tim: If Gareth Southgate had any sense he would have just called up every eligible Arsenal player for this game because they’re used to playing in a silent stadium.

Jimmy: Gareth Southgate did a great job building momentum at the World Cup in the summer, but my word, I can't imagine anything more bland than watching England vs Croatia in the League Of Nations.

Skint: Who cares about tonight? We actually won a penalty shootout at the World Cup. We could lose 10-0 and I’d still love Gareth Southgate.

Three months on from the biggest game England had played in 28 years, the Three Lions get a shot at some modicum of revenge.

In Russia, Kieran Trippier's early free-kick put Southgate's side ahead and on course for the World Cup final, only for Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic to score the goals which saw Croatia progress at England's expense.

It brought an end to a surprisingly successful summer for England, with the players wanting to exact a little retribution in Rijeka.

Danny Rose joined Alex McCarthy in pulling out of the England squad through injury, meaning Ben Chilwell is in line to make his first senior start.

Three months after facing one another in the World Cup semi-finals, the Three Lions travel to Rijeka before heading onto an arguably even tougher assignment against Spain.

Southgate will be without Tottenham left-back Rose and Southampton goalkeeper McCarthy for those games after withdrawing from the squad yesterday due to the "minor injuries" they arrived with.

While England still have three others goalkeepers to choose from, it leaves Leicester's Chilwell as the only left-back in the squad travelling to Croatia.

The 21-year-old got his first chance last month and came off the bench against Switzerland after being called up as a replacement for Manchester United's Luke Shaw - the same player he replaced in the squad on Sunday.